July 17, 2011

Okay, so maybe I am a little excessive. The only time of year I like fresh tomatoes is in the summer time here in Virginia. I especially love heirloom tomatoes! So when the opportunity came up to rent a small garden plot in a nearby community garden, I of course did! I made the trek to Debaggio Herbs where they sell every type of heirloom tomato plant available and proceeded to buy most of them! Long story short, I planted 48 tomato plants in the plot garden and the 4 that did not fit, I planted here at home. Here are some pictures of my first “small” harvest!


I am thinking that maybe I should buy some of the following cookbooks!
The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World’s Most Beautiful Fruit
The Heirloom Tomato Cookbook
The Tomato Festival Cookbook: 150 Recipes that Make the Most of Your Crop of Lush, Vine-Ripened, Sun-Warmed, Fat, Juicy, Ready-to-Burst Heirloom Tomatoes

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Strawberry Panna Cotta with Strawberry Coulis

March 11, 2011

I am a big dessert fiend! Being from an island who’s chief produce is sugar could be one of the reasons why… My milk as a child always had three teaspoons of sugar in it! So did my orange juice…anything they could stick sugar in they would! And believe it or not we all have pretty good teeth!

I joined online Weight Watchers a few days ago and am trying their Points Plus program…all the fruit and veggies you can eat, and an additional 29 points per day to start with. Those of you who’ve been on Weight Watchers know what I am talking about. So since I still have to have my sweets, I have been busy modifying different recipes to make them lighter.

Today’s recipe did not need much modifying. It is a panna cotta with strawberries added in and a strawberry coulis. I set mine in small mason jars but you can also set them in 1/2 cup custard molds and make smaller servings. The calories at the end are for the smaller servings!

Strawberry Panna Cotta

1/3 cup cold water

2 envelopes Knox Gelatin

Sprinkle contents of gelatin envelopes over cold water, let sit for a few minutes.

2 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen (thawed))

Place strawberries in a blender and blend until completely liquid. Drain through a colander to remove all seeds. Set aside.

2 cups half and half

1/2 cup powdered Splenda (sucralose)

1 teaspoon vanilla (or 1 vanilla bean scraped)

Bring half and half, Splenda, and Vanilla to a simmer. Add gelatin that has been dissolved in water and vigourously stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Add strawberry mixture and mix well. Let sit for approximately 15-20 minutes. Remove vanilla bean if used and pour into 1/2 cup custard molds which have been sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray. Cover with plastic if you wish and place in refrigerator to set, depending on your refrigerator, 2-4 hours.

Strawberry Coulis

1 cup strawberries

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup Splenda

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until liquefied. Pass through a colander to remove seeds.

To serve loosen panna cottas by running bottom of cup under warm water and invert on a plate. Serve with coulis on the side. Makes approximately 8 1/2 cup servings.

Weight Watchers Point Plus  3 (without coulis)

Calories 91.3
Total Fat 7.1 g
Saturated Fat 4.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.0 g
Cholesterol 22.4 mg
Sodium 25.2 mg
Potassium 141.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate 6.8 g
Dietary Fiber 0.9 g
Sugars 2.1 g
Protein 2.5 g

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Indian Carrot Soup

March 10, 2011

So yesterday I went to Costco and bought vegetables…and boy did I buy carrots! I did not realize it was a 20 lb bag of organic carrots! No need to fret though…my family is going to enjoy them this week! Think of the possibilities: Steamed carrots, carrot halwa, carrot cake, carrot soup…endless. So I decided on carrot soup for today. I have a ton of Indian spices which I need to use, so I went with an Indian inspired soup. And…trying to eat healthy, I decided loading it with lots of heavy cream was not in the best interests of my behind.

This is a highly spiced soup, but it is not really “spicy”. Please try to use whole spices when making this, they have more flavor that way!

 

 

Indian Carrot Soup

2 heaping teaspoons coriander seeds

1 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

Place both coriander and mustard seeds in a small skillet and “roast” over medium high heat until fragrant. Mustard will start jumping around a bit…don’t let him! At this point take it off the heat immediately and place in a spice grinder. Grind to a fine powder.

1 1/2 Tablespoons Organic Coconut Oil

1 Tablespoon Garam Masala (Found in Indian stores or Penzey’s Spices)

1/2Teaspoon Turmeric powder

In a large saucepan, saute the spices including the coriander and mustard in the the coconut oil until fragrant.

1 1/2 inch knob of fresh ginger root peeled

1 large onion

Chop the ginger and onion in a food processor until very finely chopped. Add to the spices in the sauce pan and saute over medium heat until the onion start softening and becoming translucent, about 5 minutes.

1  1/2 pounds peeled and sliced carrots

7 cups chicken broth

2 keffir lime leaves or the grated zest of two limes (golf ball size)

Add the carrots, chicken broth, and lime leaves or lime zest to pot. Bring to boil, then bring down to a simmer. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes, until the carrots are soft. If you used the keffir lime leaves, remove them from the soup.  At this point you can either puree them in batches as I did in a blender, (in a VitaMix), or using an immersion blender.

Juice of 2 fresh limes.

1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

Add the lime juice to the pureed soup and blend. This makes 8-1 cup servings. Garnish each bowl with a tablespoon of Greek yogurt!

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